: I've lately been using a tower zone megabattle save in which the covie mob is
: initially in shadow. It's the set-up used for my recent movie BCM460
: actually. Now, imagine I've just loaded the save. The first time I start a
: battle, there's a problem. When the covies leave the shadow, they're not
: rendered properly. They're rendered dark; and in fact they can seem almost
: like black silhouettes when seen from a distance. I assume they're being
: rendered as if still in shadow. This isn't much good for recording, as it
: looks both wrong and unsightly.

: That said, if you ever go near a dark covie, his lighting quickly corrects.
: He becomes lighter, over the course of a second or two.

: Now here's the curious thing. With repeated plays or partial plays, the game
: eventually gets its act together (albeit gradually) and renders covies
: correctly - at which point I'm happy to record gameplay. My questions
: then: (1) Why was the game initially rendering them incorrectly when they
: leave the shadow?

: (2) Why, after multiple plays or partial plays, does the problem clear up?

: (3) Is there anything I can I do to make the problem clear up with optimal
: speed? It's annoying having to always play for several minutes or more
: before the lighting is fine.

: Incidentally, the issue is visible in the first play of BCM460. Some of those
: covies are definitely too dark, and you'll see that a few are silhouette
: like. I think the problem was part way through clearing up when I recorded
: that. I liked the play though, which is why I used it anyway.

What console are you using? It might be that your console needs a cleaning, meaning that there may be dust inside that is restricting air flow. I don't know if the X box GPU's thermal throttle when they get hot, but if they do, then that might be the problem.